SOCHI: Mercedes clinched their second successive Formula One constructors’ championship on Sunday and Lewis Hamilton took a huge stride towards his third drivers’ title with victory in Russia.

Congratulated on the podium by President Vladimir Putin, Hamilton took his ninth win of the season and 42nd of his career after a throttle problem forced the early retirement of German team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton started second behind Rosberg but took over the lead when his Mercedes team-mate experienced a throttle problem that forced him to slow to a crawl and then come into the pits to retire.

Hamilton then cruised to victory by 5.9 seconds over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, with Sergio Perez third for Force India, 17 seconds further behind.

The Briton now has a lead of 66 points over Vettel and, if results go his way, can secure his own second successive crown in Austin, Texas, in two weeks’ time.

Mercedes team bosses had left the circuit long before the constructors’ title was confirmed, however, with the outcome depending on a stewards’ enquiry that eventually demoted Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen from fifth to eighth.

“We found out [about the title] upstairs. It just feels special to be a part of it and to have contributed to a team success,” Hamilton told reporters some two hours after the race had ended. “It is a great, great, great feeling.”

With four races remaining, and a maximum 100 points to be won, Hamilton has 302 points to Vettel’s 236 and Rosberg’s 229 and his 42nd career win took him past his boyhood hero Ayrton Senna on the all-time list.

In a race with two safety car interventions, several accidents and a series of retirements, Carlos Sainz who had crashed heavily in his Toro Rosso on Saturday, was passed fit to start from the back of the grid, rose to 10th and retired after spinning off in the closing laps.

Brazilian Felipe Massa finished fourth for Williams while Russian Daniil Kvyat was sixth for Red Bull, ahead of Sauber’s Brazilian Felipe Nasr and Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado in a Lotus.

Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso finished ninth and 10th respectively for struggling McLaren but the Spaniard lost his point after being handed a penalty for exceeding the track limits.

That left Toro Rosso’s 18-year-old Dutch rookie Max Verstappen with a point instead.

Published in Dawn, October 12th , 2015

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